


Sinking deep

by Eminda



Series: Time travel for fuuinjutsu geniuses [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Time Travel, bc Sasuke is a drama queen, sometimes it's crack and more often it's pure drama, time travel with a huge twist, will add characters as they'll appear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-06-09 01:50:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6884068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eminda/pseuds/Eminda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rushing after power don't forget to check your rearview mirror. Or, don't trust Orochimaru. </p><p>Or: the story of Sasuke overcoming his jackassedness with his own mind and experience</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For those who wait for 'The Hero' - I'm sorry, I have a lot of scattered pieces that I like, but I've yet to string them together. And the POV of the next chapter is so damn hard! 
> 
> Okay, so, how I came to this story - I don't know. Plot bunnies, plot bunnies everywhere! I hope you'll like it, it's yet another attempt to write Sasuke as someone I can at least respect. 
> 
> Because I'm sick of beating myself into writing propter chapters for 'The Hero' here are three shorties!

For all that’s Orochimaru aggravating, the sheer amount of knowledge before Sasuke allows the young Uchiha to swallow his irritation. Of course, there’s always a taunt thrown at him, a sneering jab, a reminder that even Uchiha Sasuke should work for all that treasure.

Whatever, it’s not like Orochimaru isn’t interested in the outcome. 

 

The seal before them occupies a good chunk of the floor. Sasuke sweeps his eyes over the intricate, mind-churning design, his Sharingan taking the lines forever and deep into Uchiha’s bright mind.

“And you lost.” Orochimaru noted and when Sasuke raised his eyes he could see cruel glee dancing into the Sannin’s eyes. 

“Now you can’t study seals - no Uchiha was ever able, after using Sharingan.”

There’s too much pleasure in that voice and Sasuke glowers harder than usual. 

“You see, Sasuke-kun,” Orochimaru goes on, basking into Uchiha’s displeasure, “Sharingan allows nearly eidetic memory, instant memory of anything its wielder sees; but fuuinjutsu is not an art of simply combining known elements to get prevented outcomes. Fuuinjutsu is a product of morphing a seal.” The man smiles wide and strokes the edge of the ink marking lovingly. “Now all you will be able to do is to combine known pieces, but they are  _ endless _ . They require imagination, and that is exactly our problem, isn’t it?”

It’s moments like these when Sasuke wants to strangle and burn the man without second thought of his usefulness. He doesn’t have time for some meaningless barbs and even less patience for obscure and useless arts. 

His dismissiveness must have shown because Orochimaru laughs heartily, throwing his head back. 

“So arrogant, Sasuke-kun. But of course, Konoha’s never been fond of admitting mistakes, so the fall of their ally is not told of in history lessons. How can you know what seals truly capable of? Storing endless amounts of chakra to call upon in battle, storing healing chakra, weapons, mutating the very chakra nature to fit the needs of a shinobi. Dismissing enemy summons, sealing opponent’s chakra, shielding from genjutsu, immunity from Sharingan.” The Sannin cackles again at Sasuke’s shocked expression, even if it’s barely traceable. “Yes, Sasuke-kun, during the Clan Wars there were people able to go on equal footing with the esteemed Uchihas. And that’s how they were wiped out - for their endless power.” 

There is raw hunger in Orochimaru’s eyes as he gazes at the design in front of him, longing of the deepest kind. 

“They were even able to store  _ jutsu _ , steal them on battlefield and turn against casters; they were terrifying.” 

One of the most irritating traits of Orochimaru’s was his love to be enigmatic; in Sasuke’s eyes it was simply dumb games. 

“Maybe this  _ is  _ a kekkei genkai,” the man grunts at last, “even  _ that boy  _ was just sticking to known principles.” The Sannin sneers for a good measure. “Anybody with brains could become like that having necessary scrolls in possession.” 

“Is there a point in this?” Sasuke asks finally, tired of nagging and vague jabs at his lack of knowledge; what’s the point if some clan is dead and Sasuke can’t use their knowledge anyway. 

 

(Somewhere deep in his mind he’s glad, because he’s not sure if Sharingan truly blocks an ability to create seals, or if anything Orochimaru says is true. 

Irrelevant now, forget it.)

“Of course. Isn’t it nice that you see it - it was created well before the capital of Hi no Kuni was founded, and it’s  _ lovely _ .” However disturbing Orochimaru may seem, this genuine love in his voice right now is even more so. “It can turn the very axis of existence as we know it - not that it’s easy to activate.” The man chuckles in a parody of good humor. “But the thing it will allow a person to do - the power it grants, the ultimate power, rivaling anything created by man!” 

With such dramatic ending Orochimaru sighs again, caressing faded lines with far more care some parents show to their offsprings. 

Sasuke sneers, because he still can hardly believe that some clan was able to create such things; as far as he knows seals are for explosions, storing and warding, he’s never heard of changing of chakra nature or dispelling genjutsu; Orochimaru is full of invented tales, though, so the young Uchiha grunted and turned to leave. 

It wasn’t, though - his chakra flared and he embarrassingly flailed a bit, stepping right onto one small triangle. It whistled gently under Sasuke’s feet and he felt as if he was ripped right out of his body. 

 

NO

 

He fought furiously, damning Orochimaru and trying to struggle. 

 

In the end, Sasuke was too weak.


	2. Chapter 2

When coming into awareness after a long and strong faint it takes brain a lot of time to begin function properly. As it was, the first thing Sasuke saw was a rather outdated IV, but the first thing he  _ remembers seeing  _ is a face. 

It’s not a face he recognizes and the first thing he remembers feeling is panic. A rather nondescript boy - or a teen, maybe - is frowning at his kunai. Sasuke feels it safer to keep silent and feign sleep; he’s pretty sure he can’t lift his tongue, legs and arms aside. 

The second time the world is back in clarity, Sasuke is alone. He’s still weak, but his attempt at turning his head is met with success. Uchiha cranes his neck a bit and swallows a whimper; the pain rumbles in his brain like he was hit. Gasping faintly and helplessly, he drops his head back on the thin pillow and tries to hold back tears - why else is his sight all blurry. The thought that Kabuto or Orochimaru can walk in on any given moment and see him like this…

Sasuke exhales in fury, that’s pretty much all he can do, his body is still boycotting his brain and the pain is so overwhelming he’s sure any serious movement will render him unconscious. 

After that humiliating experience lucid moments become more frequent; often Sasuke can hear somebody breathing before he opens his eyes, so he keeps on pretending; he’s never heard either Kabuto or Orochimaru breathe, so any lame pawn they send to look after Uchiha isn’t good enough to catch on Sasuke’s pretence. 

 

Forced immobility leaves Sasuke a lot of time to think and, dare one say, lament; Sasuke isn’t one for lamenting - unless it’s his no-more-family, so after hours and hours of seething, regretting, hatred - towards Itachi, Orochimaru, Kakashi, Sandaime, himself - he slowly begins to slip towards true madness. Thoughts that are begging to come at the surface he pushes back into darkness with a vengeance and the effort to stop thinking leaves him exhausted and devastated. 

Sasuke wants to function again or stop functioning at all. 

 

In a moment of one such almost deranged mental battle he’s unceremoniously pushed awake by a weak current of electricity. 

“I told you she’s feigning.” A man with bags under his eyes and a really sharp glare tells the same teen from before. 

“Thank you!” The boy cries and rushes forward, almost touching Sasuke’s nose with his. “Aoi-chan! Aoi-chan, you hear me?” 

The words elude Sasuke, but such rude, rude behavior jolts him and he glares with all hate he can muster. 

Immediately a hand clamps over his eyes and the voice admonishes. “You shouldn’t strain yourself, you’re too weak for Sharingan. Please, Aoi-chan!” 

At last Sasuke’s brain catches up and he blinks, because he doesn’t  _ want  _ to understand. 

Aoi-chan? 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m having such a blast writing it!   
> This chapter just gave me so much satisfaction, I'm shameless.

It takes almost a week for Sasuke to be able to sit up on his own; doctors tell him it’s an incredible pace, that with injuries such as his it’s a wonder he still lives, that he shouldn’t push himself. 

Sasuke only hears ‘Uchiha-san’ and ‘Aoi-san’ and, on the occasions when that teen keeps on appearing ‘Aoi-chan’. 

More than anything, Uchiha wants to start making some sense of all that ridiculousness, but as soon as he starts analyzing his brain just kind of shuts down, because, well, six days is a long time to realize that basic body functions, such as  _ urinating  _ suddenly work not like you expect them to be. 

Sasuke does a check - as thorough as he manages - of his body and it’s undeniably female. The reflexion in his window is also very feminine - high and smooth cheekbones, slightly heavy eyelids and very, very girly lips. When Sasuke frowned, looking at the offending image, he saw  _ pout _ . 

All this causes his mind to be stuck in a neverending loop of denial. No matter the evidence, no matter the fact that his Sharingan can find nothing wrong with the environment, Sasuke still furiously stops himself from thinking it. 

 

But as usual, reality doesn’t bend to the will of one person, even if that person is as stubborn as Uchiha Sasuke. As soon as he - he is  _ he!  _ \- is able to sit on his own, he’s visited by someone other than that annoying Hiroki, who wouldn’t leave Sasuke alone even for a day! 

The woman walks in determinedly and sits on a stool on a comfortable distance. After his overbearing nurse, the doctor without any knowledge of ‘personal space’ and Hiroki Sasuke is grateful for small mercies. 

“Uchiha-san,” Murata Koto begins, after introducing herself. “You seem to be recoreting pretty fast.” She pins him with a stern stare and flips open her chart. “According to the hospital data your menstruation cycle is twenty nine days, and taking into consideration two weeks you’ve spent here and eight days of your mission the menstruation should begin any day now.” The look Sasuke is given now is chastising, as if it’s his fault. 

Sasuke just stares at her in return, wide-eyed and suddenly frightened, he knows anatomy well enough to know that such things as  _ menstruation  _ are inevitable, but no-

Just no!

His brain went into overload somewhere around ‘your menstruation cycle’ (the first two syllables) and is unable to right itself ever since. 

Uchiha is vaguely aware of the fact that somebody is standing over him and at last he hears not roaring - it’s his blood - but the stern voice of that awful woman. “Calm down, Uchiha-san!” Murata barks, probably for the second or third time, and nods when Sasuke’s distracted gaze snaps to her. 

“That’s what I came to talk about - you’ve lost a lot of weight and the body fat is essential for menstruation, so expect a delay or disruption of your cycle. Be sure to maintain your calendar, though, your scheduled appointment is in three weeks.” 

The doctor leaves without an afterthought and Sasuke is left free to hyperventilate. 

_ No!  _ His mind screams again and again.  _ No! Nonono!  _

It’s a neverending chant of humiliated denial. Sasuke wants to hurl, Sasuke wants to scream and he wants his body back! 

He’s tried for genjutsu so many times he’s lost count and he wants to weep - for the first time since forever it’s not because of Itachi. 

When Sasuke comes around - heavy breathing and hysteria does that to a person - he finds his pillow wet and his head strangely empty. And with that, finally, comes at least partial clarity of mind. 

 


End file.
